


I'm Friends With The Monster (That's Under My Bed)

by Lothiriel84



Category: The Monster Hunters (Podcast)
Genre: Asexual Character, Ficlet Collection, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Pansexual Character, Polyamory, Supernatural Elements, Unconventional Families, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-05-17 06:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 6,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5857126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothiriel84/pseuds/Lothiriel84
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Put A Ring On It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eruthiel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eruthiel/gifts).



It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell Roy. Given the choice he would have wanted his friend at his side, not some random stranger he’d had to bribe with the promise of a pint at the nearest pub.

Thank goodness Suki had now made a full recovery, and while he didn’t regret his decision for a moment he still wasn’t quite sure how to break the news to his best friend – or even worse, to Sir Maxwell himself. The man was so distracted he wouldn’t notice the glint of gold to Suki’s finger, no matter that she kept wearing it right in his face.

It was only a few weeks later that Roy finally caught on to what had happened, his eyebrow rising in a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

“Lorrimer, old chap?”

“Yes, Roy?”

“Never mind,” he dismissed quickly, wary of Suki’s fierce glare. “Perhaps some other time.”


	2. Till Death Do Us Part

There’s a presence in the flat, something lingering just out of sight behind every mirror. Only Lorrimer can’t seem to realise as much, and she’d rather not ask him about it.

If someone knows the value of silence, that’s her. Men talk too much, and yet seldom talk sense; as for herself, she would far rather listen, and think, and wait.

The presence means no harm, of that she’s absolutely certain; she can’t tell how or why, she just knows. What it wants from her is another matter entirely, one she’s not quite sure she would like to dwell upon.

 _Why me_ , she silently asks the shadows that lurk in every corner late at night.

 _Because you’re the best thing that happened to him_ , the darkness whispers back in her ear as she slowly drifts off into a gentle slumber.


	3. Tuck Me In

He may have had a drink too many – he can’t be quite sure, everything is a blur and he’s just so tired. A little sleep, that’s what he needs; there’s a familiar voice murmuring something in his ear, but he can’t make out the words and to be honest it doesn’t really matter.

Two sets of arms help him as he stumbles his way into the flat – dear old flat, with its smell of books and something that feels very much like home.

All the ladies in the world simply cannot compare to this, and for the first time in months he smiles a contented smile as he falls asleep between the two people who have seen the worst of him and yet are never going to let him down.


	4. Get The Memo

There were times he wished that Chesterfield would get his own secretary, but then Suki would give him the mean look and he wasn’t going to argue with her impressive eyebrows.

Not that he minded Roy’s company; quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. He for one loved his jokes, and someone had to keep an eye on the man while Lorrimer was otherwise occupied.

If he didn’t know better, he would think that all this cataloguing stuff was actually code for something else entirely – something more Roy, if you got his meaning. But this was professor Lorrimer Chesterfield he was talking about, all brain and no distractions.

“Suki?” he shouted to the empty room, though he doubted his secretary would breathe a word about it.

She never did.


	5. The Elephant In The Room

He always made sure there was branded instant soup in the flat, and that all the cravats were properly ironed. Married or not, he was still Roy’s best – and possibly only – friend, the closest thing to a home the man had had in years; as for Suki, she’d made it very clear that she absolutely refused to come between the two of them, and that was one more reason why he respected her.

“More soup, Roy?” he ventured to ask, mindful of his friend’s unmistakable hangover.

Roy merely shook his head. “You’re no lovely lady, Lorrimer,” he muttered somewhat wistfully. “Why aren’t you?”

“I believe we’ve been through this before,” he sighed, but his palm covered Roy’s hand for a moment.

“Doesn’t matter,” Roy acknowledged at length, and he felt more than saw Suki smile at them across the room.


	6. Through Fire And Water

Sir Maxwell looks so young in his sleep. Young, and oddly vulnerable, especially for someone who spends most of his time shouting at people.

Suki, of course, knows better than that. She wouldn’t put up with his quirks and foibles if she wasn’t convinced he’s a good man, and an unexpectedly brave one on occasion.

Her fingers instinctively reach forward to brush the hair from his brow, linger there for a moment. Death by fire isn’t something that would suit a man like Sir Maxwell, and she never ever wants to see that horrified look on Lorrimer’s face – or even less the unshed tears in Roy Steel’s eyes.

 _They still need you_ , she thinks but doesn’t say. _We all do._


	7. The Shadow Of The Past

Real ghosts he can take in his stride; it’s the ghosts from his past that keep haunting him, stubbornly refusing to be laid to rest.

There was a time when he used to believe the front cover of a magazine was the one thing that mattered, the make or break of his entire existence. So many things have happened since – so many pretty faces mocking him from the darkest places of his memory – and he’s not so sure anymore.

“Leave the brooding and the frowning to the professionals, Roy,” Sir Maxwell admonishes him from the other side of the hot tub, blissfully ignorant of Suki’s hard stare. “And that’s an order.”

And for the time being, he does just that.


	8. The Bee's Knees

“Find yourself a good woman, Maxi,” his mother kept telling him when he was young. “That’s the important thing, trust me.”

A couple of decades and three wives later, he still couldn’t see what the fuss was about. Women were very much like bees – they brought about honey, that was true, but most of the time they were only too likely to sting you in the face. All in all the game simply wasn’t worth the candle – which was funny because candles were made of beeswax, or at least some of them were.  

He should tell the boys sometime. Roy would actually laugh at the wax thing, and Chesterfield would make the face, the one that always cracked him up. And Suki – well, she would simply raise her eyebrow as high as she could, which was quite a remarkable feat.

Which reminded him, he seldom thought of his secretary as a woman. Not that she wasn’t one – he had noticed as much, obviously, but that was hardly the point.

Hunting monsters was far more interesting anyway, even if he let the boys do most of the job. They were his favourite cats, all three of them – even Suki – and he hardly needed anything else.

Except for a dancing penguin, maybe.


	9. Between You And Me (And These Four Walls)

There’s a hand on his knee, warm breath on his neck; it feels different somehow, but it’s not unpleasant, and he relaxes fractionally into the touch.

Suki’s arm is still draped lightly around his back, as if to reassure him both of her presence and her unconditional approval. Sir Maxwell, on the other hand, looks very much like a contented cat, with his eyes closed and her fingers carding gently through his hair.

The sight causes him to stifle a chuckle, and the hand immediately shifts from his knee. “What?” Roy pauses, suddenly unsure, and he barely suppresses the urge to lecture him about his much unnecessary insecurities.

“Nothing,” he says instead, his fingers brushing his friend’s cravat, and he feels the answering smile into the curve of his neck.


	10. Is Biology Destiny?

She was feeling nauseous, and she absolutely hated it. It made her appear vulnerable and weak; endearing qualities though they might be in the eye of some people, she had learnt from a very young age that only strong, independent women had a chance of earning their place in the sun in an otherwise male-dominated world.

Even Sir Maxwell had noticed her condition; he had started doing less shouting and more acting like a sensible person, which was unexpectedly unnerving coming from him. As for Lorrimer, he had settled for pretending not to know for the time being, just as she kept pretending not to know that he knew. Which was all well and good, but it didn’t actually help with her current predicament.

Planning was something she’d always been particularly apt for, but she still wasn’t any close to figuring out how to fit this in with the rest of their lives, and she wasn’t even sure the problem granted a viable solution. Hunting monsters was what they did; she wasn’t quite prepared to give up on any of that, and there was no way she would expect Lorrimer to do such a thing.

Still, when Roy materialised at her elbow with a nervous smile and a cup of tea, she accepted it for what it was – tentative reassurance, and a promise.

They were going to be alright, somehow.


	11. If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

There had been a time when he secretly hoped his marriage with Ginny could be saved. (Or rather, that there was still a marriage to save, which was nothing but a fool’s hope in retrospect.)

And since desperate times called for desperate measures, well, he had even gone as far as wish for something that ultimately never happened, which was probably for the best considering the disaster of a divorce that followed.

Uncle Roy sounded so much better anyway, and he felt the burden of his past lift a little as he gazed admiringly at the tiny human that was currently sleeping with her minute fingers curled in very small fists. She was going to be a fighter, he could already tell – and he would love to teach her a trick or two one day, though he supposed she would hardly need it with a mother like hers.

“Well, hello there,” he murmured somewhat awkwardly when Lucy eventually stirred, staring back at him as if he were the most fascinating thing in the world.

Which he most definitely was not, but for a moment there it didn’t matter at all.


	12. I Hope I Become A Ghost

“Do you think ghosts get sad sometimes?”

He looks down at the slip of a girl that is tucked against his side, and not for the first time he wonders how it’s even possible that she came into existence. He knows about the birds and the bees, of course he does – though in all fairness he has no idea what either kind of flying creatures have to do with it – and, well, he seems to have lost the threads of his remarks.

Speaking of birds, he loves pigeons. And hummingbirds – not that he’s ever seen one, though he wishes he had, but from what he remembers they must be some sort of bird-bee or something. Or maybe he’s thinking of bee-eaters? He’s not quite sure, he never pays too much attention to what other people say. It takes too much effort, listening and stuff – that’s why he keeps Suki around, among other things.

“Uncle Maxi?” the girl calls again, poking at his arm with her finger, and he thinks he should say something now. Something. Anything.

“Well,” he replies slowly, gathering her closer with his arm. “Since you ask me for a ghost story...”

Lucy frowns a little, just like her father, then a delighted smile breaks on her face.


	13. Walk Unafraid

“What the hell was that?” Roy cries out in dismay, but he barely heeds him. His daughter is his first priority, and he clutches onto her like a drowning man; never before he’s been so afraid, not even when he was forced to watch helplessly as Margot was killed before his eyes.

“Did you hear her cry, Lucy?” he demands anxiously. “Did you hear it?”

“It’s alright, Daddy,” his daughter replies quietly, and she doesn’t sound in the least scared. “The Woman covered my hears, I didn’t hear anything.”

That does little to reassure him, but he knows for a fact that Lucy wouldn’t lie to him; not when it comes to monsters and other such creatures, at the very least. The Woman though is another matter entirely, and he lets out a weary sigh as he recalls all the times his precious child insisted there was someone in her – conspicuously empty – room. And to be honest, he’s never been able to fathom the reason why Suki always dissuaded him from disproving that theory.

“Oh, and Uncle Roy? That was a Hag of the mist. It’s a bit like a banshee, but more – Welsh.”

“Hell’s teeth,” Roy comments with his usual eloquence, and he can’t help a spark of pride at the demonstration of his daughter’s expertise in supernatural creatures.

She’s going to be a magnificent monster hunter one day.


	14. Born Free

Ever since their daughter had been born she had vowed that her child would be the one in charge of her own destiny. No parental expectations to fulfil, no familial heritage to live up to; she would personally see to that, as well as providing Lucy with the closest thing to a normal childhood she could hope for in a family like theirs.

For all that Lucy was a lot like her father, she took after her mother in all the things that mattered; she knew how to put the men in her life in their place, and yet was fiercely protective of them when the need arose. The fact that she wanted to be a monster hunter like her father and uncle was fine with her, so long as it was her daughter’s free choice and not some sort of ‘written in the stars’ nonsense.

However, she was secretly grateful that Lorrimer had never understood the significance of Lucy’s easy familiarity with the presence in her room. She might not be able to see the spirit herself, but she knew well enough who it was, and it wasn’t a subject she was willing to bring up; some things were better left unsaid, for the sake of everyone involved.

Still she didn’t object when Lucy asked if she could take one very specific picture from her father’s family album. It wasn’t as if Lorrimer would notice that it was missing.


	15. This Would Probably Be A Love Song

The day had started with him taking his niece to the Natural History Museum to show her the two different types of tiger – and Lucy talking him through the rest of the exhibits – until he had to dash away in order to save Lorrimer from a shoal of shark-men or something.

Now he was holding onto his friend, their breath mingling as he checked he was still alive in the only way he knew how. Not that Lorrimer was complaining, and he spared a grateful thought for the lovely Suki for being so incredibly understanding.

His father wouldn’t approve of this, but he had come to terms with that somehow. He should have seen it years ago, really; it had never been solely about the ladies for him, and he wasn’t just thinking of men in a woman’s body. But Griselda was the last thing he wanted to dwell upon, and he’d rather not think of his father either.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind some branded instant soup right now,” Lorrimer murmured in his ear, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d agreed more with a plan of action.


	16. I'll Drink To That

When he was young – much younger than the man he is today – he dreamt he would achieve something for posterity to remember him by. And while most people only think of him as an eccentric millionaire with the brain of a goldfish – which is a bit weird as he can't quite breathe underwater, and – what was he saying again?

Ah, of course. Posterity. He knows he won't be remembered for his bravery – though he did crash the helicopter once, and staked a vampire through the heart before that. He's neither a hero nor a genius, and yet there is one thing he did that is truly worth remembering.

He saw the potential where others could see nothing at all. Two men, two different stories, one identical need. He gave them purpose, showed them how they completed one another.

Electricity is nothing without a conductor. Water is useless unless you let it flow. And while there have been times when it felt like sitting on the edge of a bathtub holding a toaster, now it's more like gazing into a fishbowl full of electric water or something.

Roy Steel. Lorrimer Chesterfield.

If all he did was making them who they are today, then he knows he has not lived in vain.


	17. The Red Badge Of Courage

Lucy is still wearing her cravat, and he smiles softly between himself at the fond memories that piece of fabric brings back to him.

Memories of his best friend gingerly holding his daughter as he told her one of his hunting stories, while Lucy clutched onto his cravat with her little fist and babbled cheerfully in that unfathomable language only babies talk; of Roy giving her that same cravat as a token of his fondness for his honorary niece.

“It’s alright, little one,” Roy had murmured back then. “You hold onto that.”

And that’s exactly what Lucy has done for all this time; even now, as she’s the one telling him stories while Roy is recovering from their latest adventure.

It’s taken him years and his daughter to realise that out of the two of them Roy Steel is the most courageous one – not because he’s not afraid of danger, but because he’s the one willing to face it armed with nothing but his fists and a bad pun.

And he’s not going to make fun of his ridiculous cravats ever again.


	18. The Blood On His Hands

She knew about the garlic incident far before Sir Maxwell mentioned it - Mrs House might sound like a scatterbrain, but she was far more clever than most people gave her credit for, and Suki had always been a good listener.

Plus, she was a mother now, and therefore understood the importance of protecting your child from dangerous traits that had been running in the family for centuries. Thankfully neither Sir Maxwell nor Count Orloff had been aware of the blood ties that linked them together, but it was only too appropriate that the largely oblivious descendant had brought about the final demise of his long forgotten ancestor.

Lorrimer didn't need to know about this, not with his family being sworn against Count Orloff for generations. But she knew she was going to tell their daughter one day, and she was sure Lucy would understand.

Women were so much sensible when it came to keeping things in perspective, and the young Chesterfield was no exception to that rule. Family traditions notwithstanding.


	19. No More Looking Back

He still goes back to his favourite nightclubs in Soho now and then - force of habit, though he doesn't drink himself blind anymore. 

(There are still times when he kind of wants to, then he remembers little Lucy and how she's the one person he can't afford to let down - not even for all the Scotch in Scotland.)

 _No more living in the past, old fellow_ , he tells himself as his gaze lingers on a group of young men that are unmistakably throwing a stag party. There's booze, music, and a spot of bird-watching - the gorgeous blonde dancing in the background is quite the woman, and he should know for he's seen a lot of them.

The man the stag night is for is quite handsome too, but Roy would rather not go there for more than one reason. His face tingles with the memory of his father demonstrating his views on the subject, and all of a sudden he feels the need for a drink.

 _Just the one_ , he soothes his guilty conscience, and tries not to think of his own disaster of a marriage and everything that followed. He's fairly sure he knows one of the members of the party from somewhere, but he can't quite place him and the fact that the chap is currently trying to fit three golf balls in his mouth doesn't help either.

The whisky is tasting bitter on his tongue now, his conscience shouting at him in the voice Lorrimer strictly reserves for when he's cross. 

'That's it, I'm going home', he mutters under his breath, pausing only to salute the groom by raising his glass at him in a silent toast. Warm brown eyes acknowledge him for a moment, right before he turns his back to it all and walks away.


	20. I Bless The Rains Down In Africa

He wasn't lying when he said he could have had his pick of monster hunters. There was one memorable night when the great Lord Greg Powers showed up at his door, boasting about his top-drawer achievements; shouting him out of his house was one of the most satisfactory things Sir Maxwell had ever done, and if the hint of a smile playing at the corner of Suki's eyes was anything to go by even his taciturn secretary agreed with him on that count. 

Lord Greg might have been the greatest big game hunter in the world, but narcissists were very high on his list of things he didn't like, right after murderous cults and beatniks. His instinct told him Roy Steel was the right man for the job - even if it took him a while to shake the boy out of his drunken stupor - and he didn't regret his choice for a second. There's nothing wrong with going down if you can pick yourself up, with the help of a friend and benefactor if needed. 

In a way, Roy is his favourite son, the one he's never had. Of course he respects Professor Chesterfield a great deal, but he doesn't always understand what he's banging on about, and Roy can always make him laugh - no matter how much Lorrimer disapproves of his dreadful puns. 

Rescuing Roy Steel is the better choice he's ever made, one that has turned to be the making of Lorrimer Chesterfield too. His eyes meet Suki's as she watches over the two boys fast asleep on his settee, overpowered by exhaustion after their latest mission, and he allows his lips to fold in a proud smile. 


	21. Come Hold Me Now

Suki has been away for days, running some secret errand on Sir Maxwell’s behalf, and the next time he sees her she’s standing in his study with a young boy in tow. The lad is desperately trying to pull a brave face, but it’s the look in his eyes that gives him away – a look he’s quite sure he knows from somewhere, though it takes longer than necessary for him to realise that’s because he gets to see it almost on a daily basis.

“Chesterfield, there you are!” Sir Maxwell greets him, without really noticing the way the boy instinctively cringes at the sound of his voice. He must be a few years older than Lucy, but completely lacks her innate self-confidence, and all of a sudden Lorrimer finds himself wondering if it was the same for Roy at that age.

That’s when he notices the toy the child is still clutching in his hand, and he crouches in front of him with what he hopes is an encouraging smile. “Hello, young man. You like dinosaurs, don’t you?” he gently enquires, and he feels more than sees the grateful look Suki turns on him.

“Yes, Sir,” the boy says quietly, a hint of hope to his tone. The small hand is warm in his own, and his heart melts a little, though it wouldn’t do for him to let it show.


	22. Sure As Kilimanjaro Rises Like Olympus Above The Serengeti

There were very few things that could take Suki by surprise. (Most of them somehow involved the man she now called her husband and the father of her child, but she was still a fiercely private person and there were subjects she wasn't willing to discuss outside the sanctuary of her own mind.)

The fact that somewhere in the world a love child of Roy Steel's might exist, however, was not one of those things. It had always been a definite possibility, and one that didn't particularly bother her if she had to be honest. Most of the women Roy had seduced - or had been seduced by - along the years knew exactly what they were up against, and none of them would have had any doubts about his unsuitability as a father figure.

On the other hand, the man Roy Steel had become over the past few years was very different from the vain, self-centred playboy Sir Maxwell had sent her to rescue from a life of excess and self-loathing. That didn't necessarily make him good father material, but he was still a far better man than the old bastard who never really treated him as a son should deserve. 

And while she understood both Sir Maxwell's hesitation in breaking the unexpected news to the oblivious father, and Lorrimer's concern about the possible effects such a reveal could have on his best friend, she was nonetheless adamant that for once in his life Roy deserved to be given the chance to take his own decision and maybe prove them all wrong.

The man had been lied to one time too many, and by the people he loved and trusted at that. As his friends and the closest thing to a family he would ever have, the least they owed him was the naked truth.

No pun intended.


	23. The Man With The Child In His Eyes

He doesn’t realise he’s shaking until the words on the page start blurring into one another, and why is it that all of a sudden he finds it difficult to breathe for no apparent reason?

“Roy?”

Lorrimer’s tone is soft, as one would talk to a frightened animal, or a child – and just like that the reality of what he’s only just finished reading hits him like a punch in the stomach.

“I need some air,” he announces, the sound of his voice distant and strange to his own ears; like it doesn’t belong to him, or he got lost in one of his nightmares and can’t remember how to wake up.

(He used to have nightmares when he was a kid, most of them somehow involved his father. Now he only dreams of failure, mocking laughter, and a beautiful woman calling out his name as she falls off a cliff.)

A wave of nausea hits him and he feels his knees connect with the floor, his fingers still clutching at the letter his friend handed him what now feels a lifetime ago. “It’s not – I can’t –” he begs in between the sobs, and he’s massively grateful for the comforting hand squeezing at his shoulder, giving him one last scrap of security to hold on to.

There’s no way he can voice the turmoil of emotions taking place within the tight space of his chest. Fear, hope, shame, confusion – and above all else, a sickening feeling that he’s not any better that his own father had been.

“You’re not your father, Roy,” Lorrimer points out to him with gentle conviction, and it still amazes him how his friend can actually read him like a book sometimes. Except that this has nothing to do with books, and he can’t even begin to think what he’s supposed to do now.

For the first time ever since he can remember, he simply allows himself to break down and cry.


	24. Jacket Pocket

Lucy Chesterfield was truly her father's daughter, Sir Maxwell acknowledged with a sigh as he turned half an ear to what was basically a lecture on all the different kinds of dinosaurs and stuff. To be fair, young Stewart was paying much more attention to her words than his father would ever do with Lorrimer, and he supposed that might be a point in her favour. 

However, she was also very much her mother's daughter, and that meant she instinctively knew how to handle difficult situations - such as the boy's father finally deciding to show his face after making himself scarce for about a week. Her hand reached for Stewart's shoulder as he dug a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket - a picture of Roy Steel's face on the cover of some old magazine, flashing a charming grin at the camera.

"Uncle Roy," she greeted him with what Sir Maxwell was pretty sure could be described as an encouraging smile. "Why don't you come here and tell us one of your hunting stories?"

That was when Sir Maxwell decided his presence in that particular room was no longer required, though he was magnanimous enough to wait until the door closed behind him before shouting at Suki to get him a drink.

It wasn't until much later that he dared set foot in his own billiard room again, long after he saw Lucy head for her favourite spot in the library. And if he got a funny feeling in the back of his throat at the sight of Roy Steel fast asleep with his own child in his arms, he chose to put it down to a glass too many of sherry rather than the curious sensation that he had somehow just acquired a grandson. 


	25. Stick Up For Yourself, Son

He turns a discreet eye on Roy as he enters the living room and heads straight to the liquor cabinet. He can't quite remember another occasion when his friend looked just as scared as he did today, while he was talking to his own son.

"How do you do it, Lorrimer?" Roy asks at length, once he's sitting beside him with a glass of Scotch in his hand. "Is there a book, or something?"

It's testament to their friendship that he can actually understand what he's talking about. "I'm afraid not," he replies carefully, and he's once more grateful for the incredible woman the Fates have allowed him to have at his side. Being a parent is so much more difficult than facing monsters and demons, he wouldn't know how to do it himself without Suki's guidance.

"You still have us," he adds as an afterthought. "And Sir Maxwell, I suppose."

Roy now looks seconds away from catching him into a bear hug, which would be awkward since he's still holding his untouched drink.

"I - could you please take care of this?" his friend says, handing him the glass.

Lorrimer is not sure he's ever been this proud as he is of Roy right now.


	26. The Day Before You Came

She remembers meeting Margot once, right before she and her husband left for Egypt. Sir Maxwell had a proposition for the two of them, one that ultimately was accepted only after Margot's death and everything that followed.

There are times - late at night when the world is silent and she finds herself unable to sleep - she still wonders if she should have stopped them. She had no way of knowing about the fate they were about to meet, that is true; but she clearly remembers having a bad feeling about the whole business, though she herself couldn't explain why.

 _Don't blame yourself_ , the presence in the room whispers soothingly in her ear. _I knew what I was up against when I married him_.

The Chesterfields were making a name for themselves, that's why Lord Greg Powers wanted them dead. The madman was so jealous of his own fame and glory he couldn't stand the idea of sharing it with other people. Not even with someone who was deemed second to him, and lost everything he had because of that.

Roy Steel was merely a shadow of what he used to be when she came to find him. Together they patched him up, she and Sir Maxwell; but it was Lorrimer Chesterfield that gave him purpose and the will to start living again. Lorrimer himself never knew how much, just as he never truly understood that Roy's terrible puns were exactly what made him get out of bed on a bad day.

Still, Lord Greg wasn't done with them, not even after his apparent death at the hands - and teeth - of the abomination he created. He had to come back, and make Roy fall in love with him, which was the lowest blow he could deal to his old enemy. 

Once again, she wishes she had been able to see through Griselda's lies and spare Roy some more undeserved suffering. She knew there was something wrong with Griselda the moment she saw her, but she couldn't find anything on the mysterious woman that seemed to have appeared from nowhere - not until it was too late, at the very least. 

 _None of that is your fault_ , the ghost of Margot gently reminds her. _You were there for the them when they needed you, this is all that matters_.

She thinks of her daughter, sleeping in the next room, and Stewart who is temporarily sharing a room with his father. She thinks of Sir Maxwell smiling fondly at his family of choice, and eventually decides that Margot is quite right after all.


	27. Knowing Me, Knowing You

His uncle used to run a zoo, and he loved spending his time there as a kid, looking at all the animals and trying to make friends with them. 

(He still remembers that time he was allowed to feed the elephant, the way its trunk tickled his palm as it grabbed the treat. His father didn't sound that happy though, and sternly informed him that a real man doesn't get all friendly with the game he's supposed to be hunting.)

Uncle Roy was the only member of his family who never tried to change him, the one who never looked at him as if he'd let them down once more. That was why he was so upset when Virginia announced she'd sold the silver set they were given as a wedding present, the one reminder he still had of his favourite uncle.

His ex wife might have taken everything he owned - his flat, his car, and all his money - but there was something she couldn't steal away from him, and that was the love of the people who believed in him in spite of all the mistakes he'd made in his life. As Lorrimer liked to point out, the past was another country, all that mattered was making the best of whatever time they were given.

And he was most definitely going to take his son to London Zoo tomorrow.


	28. Young As The Morning, Old As The Sea

The first time he saw her he thought she was a grumpy guardian angel who wasn't in the slightest impressed with his poor life choices. Still, she saved him, and that was when he realised she was very much human - though she remained completely silent when he demanded that she speak to him.

In a way he's the one who made her who she is today - a lovely ghost who moves in the shadows and saves the day for those Sir Maxwell has deemed worthy of being taken under his wing. 

However, the fact remains that she's quite the mystery to him after all these years. Suki is loyal to a fault, but she still refuses to speak to anyone but those few who somehow managed to earn her trust. He would hardly believe she could talk at all if he hadn't witnessed one of the muted exchanges she occasionally shares with her husband.

(He's not entirely sure he will ever manage to wrap his head around the notion of Chesterfield and Suki as a married couple - pretty much as he never really dwelt on the significance of Margot's role as Lorrimer's wife. But this, as so many others, is a matter for some other time.)

The one thing he's sure about is that he can rely on her for everything and anything, from the most trivial pursuits to matters of the utmost importance. And if he has to endure her sulky silence and fierce glare on occasion, he knows he can trust her discretion; he wouldn't hesitate to put his own life in her hands, and the life of his employees - his family at heart - too.

(And yet, he still marvels at how young she looks in those rare unguarded moments when she surrenders to tiredness and sleep. It's only on such occasions that he dares to brush a solitary kiss on top of her head, though he himself could hardly explain why.)


End file.
